Longhorns 'D' gearing up for West Virginia's red-hot QB Geno Smith

1/8

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

SIX WEST VIRGINIA PLAYERS THAT OKLAHOMA FANS SHOULD KNOW: In preseason, this was the game most were circling as the de facto Big 12 championship. Now? West Virginia's just fighting for a bowl berth. But that doesn't mean the Mountaineers don't have the weapons (especially on offense) to orchestrate an upset of Oklahoma come Saturday. They'll just need to get big games out of these six players...

Geno Smith enjoys learning from the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and
Robert Griffin III, but that doesn’t mean the West Virginia quarterback wants to
be them.

“I just want to be the best player I can be,” Smith said.

Potentially, he could be as good any quarterback out there.

Smith is coming off one of the most impressive passing performances in NCAA
history in a 70-63 win over Baylor last week and is the leader in everyone’s
Heisman Trophy poll. As he prepares to take on Texas on Saturday in Austin, he’s
spurring the kind of talk that makes legends.

Asked about his preparation for Smith, Texas coach Mack Brown joked that
defensive coordinator Manny Diaz couldn’t be found to discuss the subject.

“Well, I’ve been down there three times and he’s got his door closed and he’s
under the desk,” Brown said. “It’s been hard to communicate with the defensive
staff so far. I can’t find them. They’re just sick.”

Hyperbole aside, Smith is showing signs he can be special. His performance
against Baylor was historic: 45 completions in 51 passes for 656 yards and eight
touchdowns — all school records. He has 1,728 yards passing and 20 TDs this
season and has not thrown an interception in his last 222 attempts. His
quarterback rating of 208.3 and his 456.7 yards per game in total offense lead
the FBS.

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen has taught the likes of Graham Harrell,
Case Keenum and Brandon Weeden. He said Smith is in that class.

“He has the potential to be as good as any of ’em,” Holgorsen said.

Brown went even further, saying that Smith could be as good as any Big 12
quarterback ever — including Griffin, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, and
former Longhorn Vince Young.

“I think as good as our quarterbacks have been [in the Big 12], he’s playing
as good or better than any quarterback we’ve ever had,” Brown said. “He hasn’t
made a mistake, and there’s a tremendous amount of pressure on him with trying
to handle all the hype and the Heisman stuff. We’ve been through that here, and
it’s a very difficult thing to do, and he just seems unbothered by it.”

Baylor coach Art Briles watched as Griffin tried to deal with that pressure
last season before eventually winning the trophy for the best college football
player in the nation.

“It’s kind of like being in a golf game where you have one bad shot, and
that’s all everyone is talking about,” Briles said. “They’re talking about one
bad shot and not the 68 you’ve hit right. It’s constant pressure.”

But Smith puts more pressure on himself than any critic, Holgorsen said.
After the Baylor performance, in which he had just six incompletions, he was
studying video immediately after the game to see his mistakes.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Smith said. “My guys have been doing a
great job catching the ball, getting upfield and making me look really good. I
can’t say that all of the credit is on me. It’s just a product of the system and
being around great guys.”

That said, even Smith concedes he has the ability to be great. At 6-3, 225
pounds, he has some terrific raw tools.

“I’m blessed with tremendous talent. I’m also athletic and gifted,” he said
when asked why he is playing so well. “I’m all about the mental aspect of the
game and approach of it, and that’s what puts me ahead, I think.”

It might be the best scouting report there is on him. Smith has regularly
attended the Manning Passing Camp and has learned from those sessions. He has
worked with acclaimed quarterback coach George Whitfield and now throws a much
better deep ball. He watches Manning and Brady on video. He tries to soak up as
much information as he can

“Peyton is one of the more cerebral guys. He understands football so well.
I’ve been studying him since my sophomore year. I pretty much know all of his
checks,” Smith said before the season. “Tom Brady is so smooth in the pocket.
He’s not fast at all. He’s quick-twitch. He’s able to do subtle things to buy
time.”

Holgorsen said that when he’s not studying the opposition, Smith often is
seen watching video of NFL games.

That’s all Smith can do. All those comparisons to anyone else matter only if
the Mountaineers continue to win.

“We still have a long season to go, and I’m not going to get caught up in to
the hype because, in all actuality, it really doesn’t mean much,” he said. “I
understand that the Heisman is the biggest individual accolade in sports, but at
the same time, my only goal is to win the national championship — and I really
want to make that clear.”

Top of the heap

The two leaders in FBS quarterback rating go
head-to-head Saturday in Austin. The top five:

Name

School

Yards

Geno Smith

W. Virginia

208.37

David Ash

Texas

184.03

Aaron Murray

Georgia

183.47

J.W. Walsh

Okla. St.

181.22

Casey Pachall

TCU

180.03

Geno Smith

Born: Oct. 10, 1990, in Miramar, Fla.

Position: Quarterback

Ht., Wt.: 6-3, 225

Notable: Led Miramar to the Class 6A Florida state semifinals
in 2008, when he threw for 3,089 yards and 30 touchdowns. … Back-up QB as a
freshman at West Virginia in 2009. … Became the starter as a sophomore and threw
for 2,763 yards and seven touchdowns for a 9-4 Mountaineers team. Named
second-team All Big-East. … As a junior under new coach Dana Holgorsen, threw
for Big East-record 4,379 yards for 10-3 Mountaineers team. Set Orange Bowl
records with 401 yards passing and six touchdowns in a 70-33 win over Clemson. …
Set school records with 656 yards passing and eight touchdown passes last week
in a 70-63 win over Baylor that made West Virginia 4-0.

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.